Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Greetings to all my Paper Pretties friends. I am sorry that I do not have a funny card to share with you this week. Unfortunately, there one of my uncles passed away at the end of last week and that put a damper on card making. On the up side, I got to visit with family members I haven't seen in a long time, they shared stories about my uncles, many that were new to me and most of which had me laughing, a thing that would have made my uncle happy.So, for my Paper Pretty friends, this week's challenge is to make a humorous card. When you've finished all your cooking and shopping, go find some time to sit down and make a card and link it up for a chance to win 5 Paper Pretty digis. Pop over to our challenge blog, from there you can link up to the rest of the design team's blogs or the store. And who knows, maybe by the end of the week, I'll have gotten my mojo back and have a funny card to share.That's just the kind of thing that would make Uncle Marino happy.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Are you thinking "Starry, Starry Night" either Vincent Van Gogh, or the song about him and the painting? Usually when Cupcake Inspirations Challenges posts its latest photo all I can think about is icing, yummy buttercream icing. However, this week I can't get the song out of my head, or for that matter poor tormented Vincent. What a talent that man possessed! This week they are the inspiration for the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge CIC238 which is being sponsored by DRS Designs. DRS is one of our regular sponsors and they always generously allow the design team to pick an image to work with for the challenge but I was asleep at the wheel as they say when I was supposed to be shopping and forgot to pick something so I am not using one of the DRS Designs image for my card. So please make sure you hop over to DRS Designs to see some of the fun images you could win if you play along in our challenge this week. You scroll to the label section at the bottom left side of this page and click on DRS Designs to see the cards I've made with some of their images.

If you aren't inspired by the cupcakes you can also play along with the color challenge. I try to do both. When you're doing the color challenge no one says you can't add a little bit extra color, okay technically you're only supposed to add a neutrals and if you have a human figure you can flesh tones and hair but here on planet Chris pink is a neutral, and here on planet Chris this card just needed that extra punch, the silver, midnight and gold is very elegant and works nicely for a professional looking Christmas card but I was going for a fun "hey, I live at the beach and there's no snow on New Year's Eve here" kind of not at all professional kind of look. It should tick of just about everyone I know.Here's the deets:stamp - Impression Obsession Leigh Hannan Beach Bottleink - Memento "Tuxedo Black" and Ranger "Frayed Burlap" (to dull the Lemon Drop cs) and "Faded Denim"paper - My Favorite Things "Midnight Blue", "Lemon Drop" and "Rich Razzleberry" card stock; Close To My Heart " Pemberly" dp and " Silver"miscellaneous - copics; flip flop charm; baker's twine; pink ribbon; My Favorite Things "Modern Moroccan", "Blueprints 7" and "Hello" die-namicsHere's the challenges:Cupcake Inspirations CIC238 - photo4 Crafty Chicks - Anything GoesFab 'n' Funky Challenges - Anything GoesThanks for stopping by, come back again.

Friday, November 22, 2013

It's the weekend! Yeah! I hope you're ready to enjoy this one and that you've got some time for stamping. Come and join us for this fortnight's "Festive" challenge at Stampin' for the Weekend. Do I need to point out that this is the last weekend before the hostilities I mean festivities begin? So get your stamps and papers out and get cracking now. We're all just waiting to see what you can whip off before you run out to shop in one of those Black Friday sales and our sponsor Live and Love Crafts is going to give one of you a prize so don't forget to link up your creation on the SFTW challenge blog. While you're over there check out the rest of the design teams creations, they are fantastic. Maybe you even have some time to leave them a little love.If this is your last free weekend before the festivities thanks for spending some of your time with me. I hope to see you back here soon.Here's the deets:stamp - Bugaboo "Merry Christmas to Ewe" digi; My Favorite Things "More Washi Patterns"ink - printer; Stampin' Up "Baked Brown Sugar" for faux washi tapepaper - Stampin' Up "Cherry Cobbler", "Whisper White" and "Baked Brown Sugar" card stock'; Memory Box "Spiceberry" patterned paper; Xpress card stockmiscellaneous - copics; Stampin' Up corner punch; Spare Parts brad; My Favorite Things "Washi Tape" die-namicsHere's the challenges:Stampin' for the Weekend - FestiveMoving Along with the Time - Music Inspired! (We Wish Ewe You a Merry Christmas)Crafty Sentiments Designs- ChristmasCharisma #46 - ChristmasABC Christmas - W is for Winter WishesCards For Men #23 - Christmas

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

This week's Paper Pretties Challenge PWC285 challenge is "Pink and Brown." That makes this challenge fun for me for a couple reasons. First, pink and brown is one of my favorite color combinations; second, I got to make a non-traditional color combination Christmas card. My card uses "Bundle Up Cooper". Now, technically Cooper is a boy but I think with this image if you color and embellish it in feminine colors, like I did, Cooper could be a girl. I bring this up only to show that this this stamp set might be more versatile than you thought.Stop over at the Paper Pretties Challenge blog to see what the rest of the Pretty Girls have created and to link up your card or project. The prize is a choice of 5 digital images from the Paper Pretties store.Here's the deets:stamp - Paper Pretties Bundle Up Cooper Clearink - Memento Tuxedo Black for image and Stampin' Up Baked Brown Sugar for Sentimentpaper - Stampin' Up Baked Brown Sugar, Strawberry Slush card stock; Cosmo Cricket Silly Chilly dsp; Basic Grey Aspen Frost dspmiscellaneous - copics; Martha Stewart snowflake punch; Close to My Heart Mocha Opaques; the Cat's Pajamas Toppers die (snowflakes); Creative Memories round corner punch; Stampin' Up decorative corner punch; Stampin' Up Baked Brown Sugar ribbon; Viva pearl pen; pink sticklesHere's the challenges:Paper Pretties PWC285 - Pink and BrownRibbon Carousel RCC87 - Holidays and CelebrationsGoing Grey with Scrap Creations - Make It SparklePaper Playtime #23 - SparkleABC Christmas - W for Winter Wishes

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Here's a cute little pilgrim cupcake for this week's Cupcake Inspirations Challenge CIC237. It's a dang cute little thing isn't it? Probably tastes good too. This week one of our regular sponsors Fresh Brewed Designs is back. There's lots of coffee related images there, which are my favorite, but there's plenty of other stuff there too. The funny thing is that I don't particularly care for coffee, and I rarely drink the stuff but most of the rest of the world's population can't start the day without it. Works out well for me since I like to make cards and usually don't send them to myself.

My card uses Pumpkin Latte. For this card I printed the image twice and colored the circle with the pumpkin twice. I cut the card out and popped it up on dimensionals and then cut the second pumpkin circle out and popped that up on dimensionals also. A little thing like that doesn't take much more time or effort but it adds a pop to an otherwise clean and simple card.Here's the deets:stamp - Fresh Brewed Designs "Pumpkin Latte"ink - printerpaper - My Favorite Things - "Kraft" and "Orange Fizz" card stock; Authentique "Thankful" dpmiscellaneous - copics; My Favorite Things "hello" die-namics; ribbons; machine stitchingHere's the challenges:Cupcake Inspirations CIC237 - photoCrafty Ribbons #70 - Anything Goes with RibbonCrafty Creations #248 - Dies and PunchesRibbon Carousel RCC87 - Holidays and CelebrationsThanks for stopping by, come back again.

At Pile It On the challenge theme this week is "Give Thanks". That ought to make it easy for you to find a few challenges to "pile on". We've got A Day for Daisies for our sponsor which ought to get you motivated. I think of ADFD images as sweet, elegant, simple line drawings with a vintage feel. The prise is a $12 gift certificate, so I know you're going to want to play along.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Happy Weekend! As Thanksgiving is rolling closer are you starting you're shopping list or are you actually shopping? For me it's a blessing and a curse that my husband most of the food shopping. The blessing is that I won't have to lug a 20 something pound turkey around, the curse is I will have to go out the day before to find the things he didn't understand or couldn't find, but how bad it that?So - are you ready for this fortnight's Jellypark Friend's new challenge? It's a most timely challenge, the theme is "Happy Thanksgiving/Give Thanks". That just might help you get ready for your holiday festivities. If you pop over to our challenge blog page (click here) you can get a gander at how some of the other design team members have used our new release "scarecrow" image. Personally I don't think he's very scary and neither does that bird on his his arm but he sure does make a great stamp. If you haven't gone over to the Jellypark page yet, our teamie Mel, has made a table decoration featuring the scarecrow. The decoration is pretty dang cute and she's giving Jellypark the instructions to give to its members. What not a member and don't have any spare cash these days. Don't let that bother you, membership is free AND as they say comes with privledges. WHAT!? What privledges you ask? You'll get a newsletter straight to your e-mail box and along with some fun bits of information about what's going on at Jellypark you'll probably receive a free digital image. As long as I've been a member there's been a free stamp with every issue. So if you love Jellypark and I don't know who doesn't go on and over to the store, click on the "members" bar in the menu area and sign up and you too will be a member. Don't tell anyone about the secret handshake.Here's the deets:stamp - Jellypark Friends Scarecrowink - printerpaper - My Favorite Things "Lemon Drop" and "Safety Orange" card stock; Stampin' Up "Garden Green" card stock; Recollections "Photo Burlap" and "Rooster"; miscellaneous - copics; Martha Stewart grass punch; Close to my Heart Midtown Cork Shapes; Leaf brad; My Favorite Things Thank You die-namicsHere's the challenge:Jellypark Friends - Happy Thanksgiving/ Thanks youTerrifically Thrilling Thursday - Give ThanksDelightful - ThankfulCCEE1346 - StitchesSimon Says Stamp - Thanks/Thanksgiving Thanks for stopping by, come back again.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

This week the challenge PWC284 at Paper Pretties is very timely "Give Thanks". So while you're making all you're preparations for the upcoming holidays you can get a start on your thank you cards and enter our challenge at the same time! For my card I used "Giving Thanks Sophia". I think this was my first Paper Pretties stamp and it's still one of my favorites. It's a great image for paper piecing which makes for a fast card. If you've never paper pieced it's very simple. You stamp your image on your card stock, and you stamp it again on your patterned paper. For this card I stamped it on blue patterned paper for the dress and then I stamped the flower portion on a tiny scrap of pink patterned paper. Color any parts of the image that won't be covered with patterned paper. Cut out the patterned paper pieces and glue them to the image. Sometimes it's a little trickier than this. Sometimes you might find that the pieces need to be layered and you'll have to do a little more work than this. If you're new to paper piecing stick to simple figures in the beginning and once you're comfortable with the technique venture into more complicated images, you'll be surprised how easily you'll pick it up.Here's the deets:stamp - Paper Pretties "Giving Thanks Sophia"ink - Memento Tuxedo Blackpaper - Bazzill "Whirlpool" and "Blackbird" card stock; Teresa Collins Sweet Afternoon dspmiscellaneous - copics; Jolee's Boutique dragonfly; bling; Stampin' Up "Modern Label" punch and corner punch; Spellbinder's Opulent Ovals die; sticklesHere's the challenges:Paper Pretties PWC284 - Give ThanksTuesday Throwdown #173 GratitudePaper Playtime #23 - SparkleLove to Create #91 -Thanksgiving/ThanksThanks for stopping by, come back again.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Whooo's ready for the new challenge CIC236 at Cupcake Inspirations? We've got Pink Cat Studios back to sponsor us this week. That is just about the cutest store on the internet. If you haven't made your holiday cards yet you have got to check out the winter holiday digis. I'm thinking about next year already.

For my card I used "Cuddles the Owl", If you collect or love owls there are quite a few really adorable owl digis available at Pink Cat Studios any of which would be perfect for this challenge. If you don't have an owl image you can enter the color challenge. The sweeties look forward to seeing your creations.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Stampin' for the Weekendhas issued its challenge for this fortnight and it's "Autumn/Fall Colours". If you've visited my blog in the last couple weeks you know that I'm loving this theme. If you haven't visited, the reason I love the fall color themes is because where I live we don't experience the changing of the seasons with glorious colors. We get more of Hot, hotter, hot again and rain or something like that. I'm not complaining, I'm just explaining and I love all the Palm trees, but I digress...Our sponsor is Bugaboo Digi Stamps. They are one of my favorite companies and I've often said that my favorite character is Stella because she cracks me up. Well, this is my favorite Bugaboo stamp. I love it because I can make a birthday card for anybody with it. It works for boys and girls, men and women. It's up to you how you want to color and embellish it. One of the other things I love about Bugaboo stamps is that you can find funny images and not just plain old funny but sarcastic funny, birthday card mean funny - go check it out. Bring your wallet, you'll want to buy something.Here's the deets:stamp - Bugaboo Cupcake Word Blockink - printerpaper - My Favorite Thing Tangy Orange and Safety Orange card stock; Basic Grey Ambrosia; We R Memory Keepers Grandma's Kitchen Simple Stripes and Delectable Delights dspmiscellaneous - copics; bling; Stampin' Up Baked Brown Sugar ribbon; gold grosgrain ribbon; Waxed Linen twine; leaf charm; brads; glossy accentsHere's the challenges:Stampin' for the Weekend - Autumn/Fall ColorsCrafty Creations #247 - Autumn ColorsDivas By Design - Use a DigiCrafting for All Seasons #64 - Autumn ColorsThanks for stopping by, come back again.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Happy Fall y'all! We're getting closer to the big holidays and the decorations are starting to come out but here in Florida there's still little to mark the changes so I'm very happy to see the Fall inspired challenges like this week's Paper Pretties challenge PWC283. This week the them the Pretties have picked is "Falling for You". So if you're in a cooler climate get nice and cozy in your favorite sweater or fleece and settle down to make a fall inspired card or project. If you have some Paper Pretty products we'd love to see you use them but if you don't, no worries we're happy just to have you play along.For my card, I've used one of my favorite sets "Holiday Sweets II". If you visit my blog you know I ain't lying. If you haven't been here before you can scroll around and see that I've used quite a few of the cupcakes and that I have both sets, as if that needs any explanation. And if you know me in real life you know that I love cake and icing. I would happy living on a planet where cake and icing were the only food groups and no one ever got fat or sick from it and you just ate as much as you wanted whenever you wanted it. Ah, the stuff of my dreams, but I digress...Here's the deets:stamp - Paper Pretties "Holiday Sweets II"ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"paper -Bazzill "Apricot" card stock; Stampin' Up "Soft Suede" card stock; Authentique "Thankful" dsp collectionmiscellaneous - copics; stickles; twine; Close To My Heart Opaques Mocha; Spellbinder's Circle and Scalloped circle diesHere's the challenges:Paper Pretties PWC283 - Falling for YouTop Tip Tuesday #113 - Seasons (Autumn)Ribbon Carousel RCC87 - Holidays and CelebrationsThanks for stopping by, come back again.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Don't you just love the gorgeous fall colors? I sure do, but I don't get to see the leaves change here in sunny Florida so I love to see all the beautiful fall themed cards and paper crafts around the Internet. That makes this week's Cupcake Inspirations Challenge CIC235 a very fun one for me. It's sponsored by Stamp Fairy and that's just the icing on the cake or cupcake so to speak. The winner of this week's challenge will receive a $10 gift certificate to spend in the Stamp Fairy shop. That's going to be fun for someone. The design got to use some cute images and this week a couple members of the Stamp Fairy design team joined us making samples so you really must stop over to see all the creations on our blog. Then get busy making your card or project.

My card is using the digital image Mimi Falltime. How cute is she? I know she's just adorable. It's colored with copics. The edges of the square are punched with one of my favorite Stampin' Up corner punches and the orange leaves were made with an EK Success punch. Everything else is just straight edge cuts. The acorn charm is from Oriental Trading. The punches and charm are old so if you are trying to get this look dig into your embellies and you'll find something to substitute.Here's the deets:stamp - Stamp Fairy - Mimi Falltimeink - printerpaper - My Favorite Things Safety Orange, Gumdrop Green and Orange Fizz card stock; Authentique Collection:Thankful dspmiscellaneous - copics; Stampin' Up corner punch; EK Success leaf punch; twine; charmHere's the challenges:Cupcake Inspirations CIC235 - photoOldie But a Goodie - Charming (everything, except the image, in this card is at least a year old)Partytime Tuesday #144 - Anything GoesCrafting for All Seasons #64 - Autumn ColorsDivas By Design - Use Some OrangeThanks for stopping by, come back again.